IceWings
IceWings are white, moon silver, pale ice blue, or pale lavender (sometimes iridescent Darkstalker described Arctic) colored dragons with the ability to produce a substance from their lungs known as frostbreath. This frostbreath is exceedingly dangerous and lethal to most dragons they use it on (However, Peril appears to be immune to frostbreath because of her firescales, and is only numbed by it, as revealed in Moon Rising and in Escaping Peril). They can also withstand subzero temperatures. They reside in the northwestern peninsula of Pyrrhia, where the cold areas are located, or the "head of Pyrrhia", known as the Ice Kingdom. Blaze had the IceWings' support in the War of SandWing Succession. She offered them some of the Northern desert if she won since most of the land would have been useless to her. The IceWings also heard that there was buried treasure in that area. The IceWings are divided into seven circles, represented by the gift of order. IceWings have a tradition known as The Diamond Trial, which traditionally took place at the 'mouth' of the northern peninsula, where a dragon's frostbreath would come out. (see Winter Turning). IceWings and NightWing have hated each other for thousands of years, going all the way back to a war they fought against each other more than 2,000 years before the events of the very first book. This is displayed when Starflight was rescued from the Sky Kingdom arena by Morrowseer and a battalion of NightWings, who slaughtered all the IceWing prisoners without hesitation before leaving. The NightWings also did not include an IceWing egg in the Dragonet Prophecy, also showing their deep hatred for IceWings. This may relate to a tragedy in the IceWings' past that also contributes to NightWing-IceWing hatred. Later, in Darkstalker (Legends), it is revealed that the last IceWing animus, Prince Arctic, wasn't "stolen" from them like they had been told by Queen Diamond. He had left willingly when he fell in love with Foeslayer, a visiting diplomat NightWing. The IceWings waged war on the NightWings because Prince Arctic had left, and even after the war, hatred was still instilled in the IceWings for the NightWings. They seem to dislike associating with dragons in other tribes because they deem themselves superior to them. They, along with the NightWings, are/were searching for scavenger dens, but unlike the NightWings, it is known why. Queen Glacier ordered them due to the fact she believed that one day they would find the SandWing's treasure, and more specifically, the sacred Eye of Onyx so that they would stop the war and get their land promised by Princess Blaze. Description An IceWing's scale pigmentations can range from silvery white colors to pale shades of blue and purple. Their coloring has been described as "silver like the moon", "pale blue like ice", "As pale as the moons," or "pale blue scales were the color of sky reflected in the snow on the distant mountain peaks", although, like the SeaWings, they can have unique coloring. Like Anemone and Albatross, these ice dragons can have colorings of muted lavender or pale pink. Most IceWing scales are shades of light blue. Like RainWings, they have a ruff, however, theirs is of extra horns, sharp and shaped like icicles on the back of their necks. IceWing heads are usually shaped like diamonds, and in other words, are very narrow. With that in mind, they are very swift, compact, and skinny dragons that also have surprisingly strong but narrow whip-like tails with extra icicle-shaped spines, being very sharp at the tip of the tail. IceWings have blue, black, or stormy grey eyes, forked blue tongues, blue blood, and ridged, extremely sharp serrated claws and talons to grip the ice while travelling by talon around their habitat. They have also been noted to have dark blue or blue-red blood, making their blush a blue color. Their claws are described to be "four times sharper than average claws" due to them being serrated. Abilities IceWings can withstand both subzero temperatures and very bright light. Their serrated claws are incredibly good at gripping ice and can be used to tear into their enemies' flesh quite easily. Being clawed by an IceWing is said to be equal to being clawed by regular talons roughly four times. According to The Dragonet Prophecy and Moon Rising, IceWing scales radiate a chill, similar to SandWing scales, which radiate heat instead. Instead of breathing fire, IceWings exhale a freezing frostbreath, also known by other dragons as "freezing death breath". In fact, fire is outlawed, in preference for Moon Globes from the Moon Globe Tree. Frostbreath can also be used to extinguish fires, demonstrated when Winter attempted to extinguish the flames in the history cave by exhaling frostbreath in Moon Rising. This vapor can quickly induce terrible frostbite, and if the frostbreath enters through another dragon's throat, it can kill them by fusing their internal organs together; Queen Battlewinner of the Nightwings received frostbreath down her throat by an Icewing she was about to kill, and in order to save herself, she had to stay submerged in lava to melt the ice, this may mean that frostbreath ice is immune to fire. If it hits soil, ice crystals will grow. In the first book when Clay flew over the MudWing territory it was said that the frostbreath can cause limbs to fall clean off, as shown on a dead MudWing. Clay described it as a cloud of glittering smoke when he battled against Fjord in the SkyWing Arena, and when Clay shot fire into Fjord's mouth, the chill of his scales swallowed the flame. An IceWing can be stopped from using this defense for a short amount of time by hot metal, fire, or other warm and hot materials. This is mentioned in the prologue of The Dragonet Prophecy, where Burn first had her guards wrap Hvitur's snout in hot iron chains, and then had them removed, planning to kill Hvitur before his scales cooled down and enabled him to breathe his frostbreath. Frostbreath only works when the IceWing is cold. If a dragon is shot by frostbreath on the inside, the only known way for them to survive it is for the victim to stay in lava or any other hot substance. Queen Battlewinner of the NightWings survived an attack where an IceWing shot its frostbreath down her throat, but due to her internal fire reservoir she could only survive for a short time; however, the fire could not hold it off forever and she was confined to a pool of lava, which kept her temperature in balance. When she attempted to attack Starflight and Glory in The Dark Secret, the ice forced the scales to work in Starflight's and Glory's favor and, despite Mastermind's and Greatness's efforts to save the queen, she froze to death within seconds. The ice in her body also discolored her eyes, teeth, and scales. In Moon Rising, Moonwatcher describes IceWings to have sharp, glittering, and bright minds. SkyWings born with too much fire like Peril are immune to the frostbreath, but the area hit by the frostbreath does go numb for a while. Animus powers IceWings were once known for many Animus dragons. They have a very strict rule for the use of those powers. An IceWing may only use their power once. These are called gifting ceremonies, when an Animus uses his/her power to present a gift to his/her tribe. The IceWings' line of Animus dragons ended when Prince Arctic, their last Animus, escaped with Foeslayer and gave birth to Darkstalker. An IceWing would say that the NightWings stole their powers. Names IceWing names are chosen by the family member with the highest rank in the Circle Rankings and must be approved by the queen. IceWings can be named after ice formations, such as Glacier, arctic animals (whether they be land or aquatic) such as Narwhal, words for 'white' such as Hvitur, polar landscapes such as Tundra, polar weather such as Hailstorm, and in rare cases named after gemstones such as Diamond, or even mountains in the real world, such as Changbai. Known IceWings * Alba * Prince Arctic * Changbai * Cirrus (Chameleon's IceWing form) * Queen Diamond * Ermine * Fjord * Frostbite * Queen Glacier * Prince Hailstorm * Hvitur * Princess Icicle * Lynx * Prince Narwhal * Penguin * Queen Snowfall * Princess Snowfox * Snowflake * Princess Tundra * Prince Winter Animus Dragons * Prince Arctic * Queen Diamond * Princess Frostbite * Penguin (Darkstalker) Students at Jade Mountain Academy * Alba * Changbai * Ermine * Prince Winter * Princess Icicle Society The IceWings appear to be fairly sophisticated compared to the other tribes, being the only dragons to have social classes. The social order seems to be a little reminiscent of a lower-level Russian 1800's society combined with something that seems a little Spartan. They also seem to be good planners due to their use of the animus IceWings in their tribe. The IceWings have a class system with the different levels of society labeled with "circle" (ex: the Seventh Circle). They go in order with the First Circle as the highest and most desired class and ends with the Seventh Circle, the lowest and despised. Young IceWings perform tests to determine their rank, and as seen in Winter Turning, there are usually younger dragonets that reside in the Seventh circle. From this, we can assume that IceWing dragonets start at the Seventh circle and work their way up to their determined rank. These tests revolve around every hunt, every fight, and every test of endurance in their earlier years. The place where you rank on your seventh hatching day determines where you will live as an adult. However, the Diamond Trial is also another last minute possibility. It is a test where a low-ranked IceWing challenges the highest-ranked. For the Diamond Trial, the low-ranked dragon must kill the highest ranked dragon in order for him/her to advance to first place. However, this is risky and the challenger may end up getting killed by the dragon that is being challenged. An animus-touched ice wall with the names of all of the dragonets shows their social rank. If a dragonet dies or is exiled for some reason, the name is slashed through. Once a dragonet turns seven, they are moved to the adult rankings, which determine where they live. IceWings have a strict behavior to uphold - Winter describes it as "undignified" when Moon is hugging her mother. IceWings are also taught at a young age of their tribe's superiority, and how the NightWings betrayed them. (See scrolls for more on their education.) ''They seem to think of themselves as the "best" of the tribes, probably because of their education. This seems to result in haughty, snobby behavior around dragons of other tribes. The royal family has a procedure of decapitating dead members before proceeding to store the IceWing's frozen head on the wall of dead royal family members and then slide the corpse into the ocean, according to Snowflake in Winglets: Runaway.'' Click here for a list of known IceWings. Trivia *There are 20 known IceWings. *Some IceWings seem to be minimalists, describing Blaze's fortress decorations as 'garish and gaudy', possibly due to the fact that their homeland has very little to offer in the way of decoration: mostly ice and snow. *Their breath has been referred to as "freezing-death breath" and "frostbreath". Freezing-death breath was used in the first arc, while in the second arc, it is always referred to as "frostbreath". It is highly likely that it was only called "freezing death breath" because they did not know the actual term for it. * When too warm, IceWings can't use their frostbreath, much like MudWings that can only use flame when they are warm enough. * In Moon Rising and Winter Turning, it is noted that IceWings have dark blue blood, but in the first book, it was described as blue-red. * Winter and Icicle have made references to "the great ice dragon" and "snow monsters" which means they likely have mythological figures, or at least mythology, as they read sagas of IceWing history. * IceWings eat arctic animals, such as polar bears, arctic foxes, etc. as well as marine animals such as walruses and seals as much of their territory is surrounded by water. *The IceWing palace is made of unbreakable and unmeltable animus-touched ice. *They once had animus dragons but the last animus (Prince Arctic) was "stolen" by NightWings, which is why they hate them. *Albatross was descended from an IceWing, as is all the SeaWing royal family after that. *IceWings have incredibly weak night vision, though it may once have been stronger. *SkyWings with firescales are immune to frostbreath, but in the area Peril had been hit by frostbreath did go numb for a moment. *IceWings were the first known tribe to use their animus in a controlled manner, whereas other tribe's animus dragons were killed before they could use their magic or went insane from magic overuse. *As shown in Winter Turning, IceWings seem to use "Seal Guts!" as an exclamation of disbelief or frustration. *Being clawed by an IceWing is described as being clawed "four times with each claw instead of one" by Peril in The Dragonet Prophecy. *IceWings are portrayed as knowing how to swim, in both Winter Turning, when Hailstorm reflects on how he felt in the body of Pyrite when he saw water, and in Darkstalker (Legends) when two IceWings leap out of the water on a beach to kill some scavengers set loose by Clearsight and Listener before they jumped back into the water and swam away. This also proves that IceWings don't have as many issues with water as other tribes do. *IceWings are shown to have scheduled sleeping times in Runaway. ''When Prince Arctic is caught out of his room, the Queen sends him back to bed, after talking about the scheduled IceWing sleeping cycle. *IceWings have the most royal and strict society throughout all of Pyrrhia. *In ''Winter Turning, Winter's thoughts revealed that IceWings can see very far. * The first IceWing that was introduced in the books was Hvitur in The Dragonet Prophecy. * Tui has confirmed that Icewings have accents that are different from any other dragon tribe, probably because they live the most isolated from most dragon tribes. * The IceWings have four palaces--the Queen's ice palace shown on the map of Pyrrhia, as well as three outer ones as mentioned in Darkstalker (Legends). * When IceWings blush, it is blue, as shown in Winter Turning. * Only the IceWings in Joy Ang's dragon lineart have a foreleg raised up, as opposed to the other linearts all standing with four legs. * In IceWing society, the dragon with the highest rank in the family chooses their dragonets' names, and the queen must approve them. Gallery (Click here to see gallery) de:Eisflügler fr:Ailes de Glace Category:Tribes of Dragons Category:IceWing History